Anti-missile system faces first test as Korean crisis deepens

Updated 2:27 am, Friday, April 12, 2013

Two THAAD launchers in a parking lot at Fort Bliss. Another THAAD battery is poised to be deployed from the post to Guam.

Two THAAD launchers in a parking lot at Fort Bliss. Another THAAD battery is poised to be deployed from the post to Guam.

Photo: Ivan Pierre Aguirre / For The Express-News

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Chief Warrant Officer 2, Antonio Ramirez, left, and Staff Sgt. Norman Llama speak in front of a pair of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) launchers on April 10, 2013 in Ft. Bliss, Texas. The land-based system is designed to destroy incoming ballistic missiles. The Army installation has three units with the THAAD system, one of which has been deployed to Guam. Photo by Ivan Pierre Aguirre

(FILES) This March 18, 2009 handout image courtesy of the US Missile Defense Agency shows the launch of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile during a test. The United States is to deploy a THAAD missile defense battery to defend its bases on the Pacific island of Guam, the Pentagon said on April 3, 2013 following threats from North Korea. The news that the ground-based system would be in place in the coming weeks came after two Aegis anti-missile destroyers were sent to the western Pacific to intercept any North Korean strike against US or allied targets. The THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) is a truck-mounted system that can pinpoint an enemy missile launch, track the projectile and launch an interceptor to bring it down. = RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT " AFP PHOTO / US MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY/" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS = HO/AFP/Getty Images

(FILES) This March 18, 2009 handout image courtesy of the US Missile Defense Agency shows the launch of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile during a test. The United States is to deploy a

Chief Warrant Officer 2, Antonio Ramirez, left, and Staff Sgt. Norman Llama speak in front of a pair of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) launchers on April 10, 2013 in Ft. Bliss, Texas. The land-based system is designed to destroy incoming ballistic missiles. The Army installation has three units with the THAAD system, one of which has been deployed to Guam.

Seen is a pair of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) launchers on April 10, 2013 in Ft. Bliss, Texas.

Seen is a pair of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) launchers on April 10, 2013 in Ft. Bliss, Texas.

Photo: Ivan Pierre Aguirre, UTEP Athletics

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U.S. soldiers of the Alpha Battery Second Air Defensive Artillery Regiment go through drills on April 10, 2013 in Ft. Bliss, Texas. The Army installation has three units with the THAAD system, one of which has been deployed to Guam.

U.S. soldiers of the Alpha Battery Second Air Defensive Artillery Regiment go through drills on April 10, 2013 in Ft. Bliss, Texas. The Army installation has three units with the THAAD system, one of which has

El PASO — An Army unit at Fort Bliss is poised to deploy a sophisticated anti-missile system to Guam amid escalating tensions with North Korea, which is preparing a possible launch of a medium-range rocket capable of reaching the U.S. territory.

Capt. Cesar Torres, commander of the battery that will defend the island, said Thursday his crew trained in the Pacific against the very threat facing Guam and is “absolutely” confident the system will work.

“This is a historic mission,” he said of the unit's deployment from Fort Bliss, which until the last base-closure round had been a hub for rocket research and air defense artillery training.

“We have ready, trained soldiers,” added Torres, 38, of Los Angeles. “The equipment's ready and the experience that's within the battery is more than capable of handling any situation that may arise.”

The troops and the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency say the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, dubbed THAAD, is 10 for 10 in tests, including one test against the kind of rocket that could reach Guam.

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The crew and launch system are expected to fly to the Pacific soon, but the Army wouldn't say exactly when.

THAAD is part of the nation's growing ground-and sea-based missile-defense network. Each battery, with six truck-mounted launchers, can fire 48 interceptors. The Pentagon says it has been successfully tested since 2005.

All three THAAD batteries in the Army's arsenal are at Fort Bliss. Two of them have been fielded, fully staffed and are operational, Chief Warrant Officer 4 John Fallin said. The Army plans to eventually field six batteries, with a cost per battery of about $850 million.

Bigger than the Patriot missiles that became famous in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, a THAAD interceptor has a range of about 100 miles and is designed to take down a medium-range ballistic missile. The truck-mounted THAAD launchers are mobile and can be quickly flown to hot spots on C-5 and C-17 cargo planes.

“We're very, very proud of them,” said Maj. Gen. Dana J.H. Pittard, commander of Fort Bliss, noting “it's the first real-world operation” for a THAAD battery. “They will be a part of a protective shield for our country in case of a missile attack from North Korea or wherever.”

Experts hold conflicting views on how THADD would perform in its debut. They also aren't sure of North Korean capabilities, but U.S. leaders have intensified activity because of the crisis. Secretary of State John Kerry is to fly today to South Korea for talks.

If a strike is inevitable, it isn't clear if one or two North Korean missiles could reach Guam. Reports this week said that one missile, the Musudan, was being readied to fire. It is based on the design for a Soviet SS-N-6, a highly advanced submarine-launched ballistic nuclear missile.

The North Korean version is launched from a truck and could hold a nuclear warhead, said John Pike, founder of Globalsecurity.org, a respected military information website. But, he added, experts disagree about whether the North could put a small enough nuclear warhead on the missile because its program isn't thought to be that sophisticated.

“They're not going to fire an atomic bomb on Guam. At most, what might happen would be they might fire this Musudan, which could have an atomic bomb, in the vicinity of Guam, and it's a provocation,” Pike said.

MIT Professor Theodore Postol, who closely follows Pyongyang's missile program, said some experts aren't sure the Musudan exists or that it's based on SS-N-6 technology, meaning it could not deliver a nuclear weapon to Guam.

A missile defense critic who debunked Pentagon claims that the Patriot missile knocked down incoming Iraqi Scuds in the Gulf War, Postol said the Missile Defense Agency hasn't shared detailed reports on THAAD tests. MDA spokesman Richard Lehner said his agency, “as the developer of THAAD, has the highest level of confidence that THAAD can handle the type of threat it was designed to defeat.”

But Postol doubts that.

“I'm very skeptical,” he said, adding, “Every test we have been able to examine has turned out to be artificial in ways that were fundamental to the performance of the system.”

Fallin, with Fort Bliss' THAAD unit, said the tests have shown only a few bugs.

“We have the things we need to conduct the mission,” he said, likening THAAD's hiccups to parts in a car that don't work. “It's more like having the heater work or the air conditioner work, where it's more of an additional comfort or a helpful thing that even if it doesn't work, you can still perform your mission.”

However things work out, the Army's Torres said his THAAD battery is ready. He, 1st Sgt. Quorey Joseph and the battery's crew were tested last year when called to intercept an intermediate-range missile without warning.

All went well.

“And that's a large portion of what gives us confidence the system will work,” said Joseph, 39, of LaPlace, La., and a veteran of Iraq.